Chapter Eight

Taken

Dear Wally,

The night is young and Misses Hodges has already retired to it, leaving me to sit here on the veranda and stare up at the stars, hoping you're wishing on the same one that I am. Me writing you these love letters is just a thing to occupy my time and I have to say that I don't think the letters are going to be enough for me to make it through another week if you don't write me back. I have less than a month until our baby is born and I know praying for the war to end in a week so you will return safely to me in time for this little one's birth. But I know hat you keep telling me to keep to reality. I love you Wally. Hurry home to me.

Yours Always,

Elisabeth

Tacking the last fluorescent green flyer up on the bulletin board in her dorm's vestibule, she stepped back to see her masterpiece at hand. No doubt her graphics design professor would be proud of her, not to mention her marketing executive guru father - just the right amount of text, an eye-popping picture and a bright color to make people notice. Satisfied with part two of her five step plan, Stephanie Fontaine backed up and headed in the direction of the nearest coffee cart. She was just like Rory in a sense, but instead of the coffee, she was in search of the most perfect strawberry smoothies that she had ever tasted. And after a morning like she had, complete with a complaining Colin and grumpy roommate, she was most definitely in need of one.

Branford Hall was two right turns from being at their feet and the books of years worth of Stars Hollow's history were about to tumble out of both their arms. Letting a small chuckle escape her lips, Rory readjusted and watched Logan stumble with his own stack out of the corner of her eye. He probably wouldn't admit it to anyone, let alone her, but he was a bit clumsy in his own sense. And that was just one of the things she had learned about him in the past twenty four hours. From his love for chocolate covered raisins to his ability to put a straight serious face on in the midst of one of her mother's pop culture reference jokes, Rory knew that there were definitely many sides of Logan Huntzberger and she wanted to know them.

Pausing for just a second, Rory shook the feeling from her and they turned the last corner to her dorm. Surprised that they made it this far without dropping their binders, but she thought too soon. Logan changed all that with the slip of his hand, trying to get a better grip. The binders tumbled down to the ground in front of him and Rory watched him roll his eyes and held back a smile as he cursed under his breath before bursting into the loudest laugh that she had ever produced.

"What are you laughing at?" He asked, crossing his arms for a second before reaching out to her pile, silently threatening to tip hers over as well.

"Pick them up, Logan. Two more steps and we're at my dorm," she rolled her eyes, swerving out of his reach and balancing her stack on her knee before adjusting her grip again.

"Only if you tell me again why we couldn't have done this in two trips?"

"That's easy," she said like everyone should know and stepping ahead a bit, "it's against the rules."

"It's against the rules?" He echoed her with disbelief behind his voice.

"It's against the rules," she stated again, flashing a smile, hoping that would be all he needed to pick his eight binders up off the ground, walk two steps to her dorm and then dump them all on the nearest surface that wasn't the paved courtyard pathway.

"You know, I might be picking these things up, but you owe me so much more," he commented, quickly swooping up the binders into his arms and catching up to his Elisabeth who had disappeared behind the wall. Watching her stumble to pull out the key to her dorm, Logan basked in the moment, up until she placed two of her binders on top of his. "Isn't that against the rules?"

"Making a guy hold your things or lug fifteen or more suitcases up a twenty story stairwell is never against the rules," she simply said back as she pushed open the door and let her half of the binders fall on to the floor. "And see; now we don't have to go all the way back to East Germany, where you parked your car, to get the rest."

"Why would I park my car by your dorm when I need it close to mine?"

"Shorter distance and again, against the rules. Gilmores will refrain from any shape or form of physical exercise, except," she emphasized, "when there's a sale on Jimmy Choo's or any other form of adornment for your feet. It's all in the handbook." Rory tossed her keys into the catchall on the table and immediately discarded her shoes, which she had just finished lecturing Logan on. Walking across the room, disappearing from Logan's sight for a moment and came back within the minute with a cool water bottle in her hand. Drinking it like she had been hiking for three days in the Sahara, Rory looked at all the binders that would take away from her studying for her stats exam. But that was okay by her and of course, throwing a few of those things Logan's way wasn't a bad idea either.

"Again, I ask, where can I get a copy of this said handbook?" He repeated for what felt like the millionth time today. "So, I guess I should go," he mentioned as she stared down at the binders and the awkward silence had surround them in the room with no Paris to break it up. Shuffling his feet back towards the door, he was surprised when she pulled him back.

Truth be told, he was sort of hoping that she would do that. He honestly didn't want to go just yet and this was the first time in a long time that he admitted that to himself. Spending just the night before and almost the whole day with Rory wasn't enough.

"Not so fast," she told him, pulling him away from the door he was about to bolt out of.

"Ace?" He questioned her motions and not giving him an answer right away, he was skeptical to her intentions. But he actually wasn't surprised when she bent down and picked up possibly the biggest and heaviest binders of them all and tossed them into his arms.

"Now you can go," she finished off with a smile.

"I have your permission to go?"

"Yes, you do. I'll see you, I guess, when I see you."

"Which would be tomorrow in Russian Lit and then at the paper," he reminded her of the one and only class that they had together. The only reason he had noticed was that she was the possibly the only one who responded to the professor's rhetorical questions.

"Yeah, tomorrow," she agreed and was now practically pushing him out the door.

"Call me crazy, Ace, but just a minute ago, you were making me stay and now you're pushing me out? Where do you want me to go?"

"Out," Rory stopped him at the door as he got a better grip on the binders in his arms, "that way you can find more on Elisabeth and even better, you won't be here when Paris comes home."

"Now that's an incentive, Ace and yet, I still feel so used," he sarcastically added as he now found himself right outside her door again. "So, I guess this is the part where I bid the girl goodnight?"

"More like afternoon," Rory retorted with a small smile escaping her lips. "I'll talk to you tomorrow Logan."

Shutting the door behind her as a smile graced his face, Rory leaned back against the door and let a deep sigh out of her petite frame. What a weekend…

Logan spun on his heel, knowing or at least pretending to know that he had just skipping into Rory's world and wasn't planning to escape anytime soon. Or of course, it helped that Sookie or her mother wouldn't let him either. Getting a good grip on the three biggest binders he knew Rory had given him on purpose, Logan started back en route to his dorm. Between the party last night and the sugar comas in Stars Hollow, he'd had a busy weekend already and it wasn't even half over. Her town was small, as he had pointed out many times before but it fit her and he could just imagine Finn having the time of his life there…especially with Sookie. Her red hair alone would get him there and her cooking would make him stay.

He was still en route towards his dorm, but the groups of girls huddled together and apart caught his attention as he traveled through the courtyard between his and Rory's towers. Stopping only for a moment to grab a cup of coffee to prepare himself for both Finn and Stars Hollow's history, he was caught off guard as Robert flashed a lime green flyer in front of his face.

"Nice, Robert," he said not even looking up at him, but trying to save his cup of coffee from an untimely death.

"No, I should be saying that to you and a giant thank you from the rest of the male student body."

Logan looked over towards him now and with a confused look on his face, wondering what the hell he was actually talking about. "Excuse me?"

Robert shook his head immediately after, patted his friend on the back and turned him towards the majority of the female population at Yale, still huddled closely in groups that didn't usually mesh together. Taking his small coffee and bringing it to his lips, Logan realized something was off, but wasn't fully connecting the dots at the moment.

"Since when does Danielle hang out with Vanessa? And what's up with Cheryl and Stella?"

"Read the flyer, Logan," Robert reminded Logan to do, patting him once again on the shoulder and disappearing into the conference of females that were glancing back and forth at him. "Oh! And thanks!"

Shaking the bad vibration from the back of his neck, he juggled the binders in his arms and flipped over the flyer and this time nearly spilled all the coffee out as he read over the words that no doubt will be haunting him for a while. And there was definitely no doubt to him who did it or how he was going to make her pay for it

He tossed the empty cup into the container as soon as he barged his way through her dorm. If this was why she had entrusted him with a spare set of keys then that was a good investment, but he was still going to kill her for what she had done.

"Stephanie! Get out here now!" He yelled at the top of his lungs so that the whole floor could hear. Unfortunately that didn't make her come out any faster.

"Geez Logan, you do know that you sound like her father when you do that, right?" Erin, her roommate said as she came out in curiosity from Stephanie's room instead of her own.

"That's kind of the point Erin. She in there?"

When Erin bit her bottom lip and he knew she was hiding something. Erin always did that, even when they had a thing going on. She crossed the room, avoiding his gaze and still avoiding his question.

"I'll take that as a yes," he answered himself.

"I'm actually not at liberty to say," Erin finally piped in before she scooted out of the dorm that would soon become a battlefield. Logan creased his brow at her remark as he watched her slip out the door. Excellent preservation skills, Erin.

He wasn't going to delve into what she actually meant at the moment, it would take too much time away from torturing Stephanie. Oh yes, she was going to pay.

"Steph! Now! I'm counting to three…

"I don't need you to count, Log!" Stephanie's voice yelled back from the interior of her own room.

"Then get out here."

"What would be the fun in that? I much enjoy the yelling my name at the top of your lungs. Never had that before," she paused and he heard feet shuffling around," except that time in sixth grade, oh and then last week with…"

"Stephanie! And what does sixth grade have to do with this?" Logan lowerd his yelling range but still managed to get his point across with a furious tone.

"Alright, alright, don't get your panties all in a twist and sixth grade has everything to do with this," Stephanie came out of her dorm all dressed and ready to go out like she had a hot date planned in the middle of the day.

"What the hell is this, Steph?" Logan held up the fluorescent flyer in his hand and she didn't even bother to glance at it.

"It's a green flyer," she smartly answered while putting her cherry flavored lip gloss on.

"Okay," Logan took a few seconds to calm himself down again and continued, "Let's play it this way – why is my face on it with a word that I haven't been…" he paused again, trying to remember if there was ever a time that he was taken.

"Let me, Logan – never. Until now, that is," Stephanie turned fully towards her lifelong friend and flashed him one of her Fontaine smiles which only meant one thing to Logan – she had something up her sleeve.

Her let her get to him and that never happened. With her index finger closing his open and shocked jaw, Logan snapped together and tried to examine her like he did Colin and Finn but he should've known better than to even attempt it. Stephanie was smarter than Colin and Finn put together and could easily hide anything and everything from him.

"Steph – what are you doing?"

"Putting more gloss on because I don't have enough on my lips. And this is all so I can look pretty when you take me to my Ethics class."

Logan looked at her blankly again, not sure what to say after that, if anything. Standing silently beside the table and mirror that she and Erin had set up in the common room, Logan wasn't surprised when she looped her arm through his and lef him out the door. This was definitely going to be good.

"Since when do you have Ethics class on a Saturday at five?"

Stephanie looped her arm through Logan's and silently let him glance around the cafeteria while she sipped on the strawberry smoothie that was her staple and look for a couple of seats secluded from everything else. He was getting evil snares left and right from the girls he'd bedded and she was letting him soak it all in before she broke the even bigger news to him. His head swung from side to side as she found a pair of seats at a random table which just happened to be the epicenter of the cafeteria where the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority sat at this table and they disappeared as soon as Logan sat down across from Stephanie and leaned forward, like they were in middle school and sharing a secret about the logic inside of Colin's head.

"What the hell did you do?" He asked, not wasting any time. She let him linger for a moment and gather up a million more questions in his mind. It was fun watching Logan fidget for a chance. It wasn't something that he got, especially around girls.

She was different of course, and so was Rory. Although they hadn't spoken on a regular basis, there was the occasional chat at the coffee cart and Stephanie with her observant ways noticed that about her. She made him fidget. There was only one other time that Logan fidgeted and Stephanie was probably the only person who remembered it and was brave enough to tease him about it.

"Missy Trudeau," Stephanie stated, hoping he wouldn't go all blonde on her and make her do more work than she already had done.

"Missy Trudeau? Steph, that was ages ago," Logan told her, creasing his forehead and wondering what exactly Missy had to do with anything. "What does Missy Trudeau have to do with this?"

"Everything," Stephanie answered quickly, "she has everything to do with this." Stephanie set her smoothie to the side and leaned back in a bit to continue. "When's the last time you had a date – and I mean a date-date, where you can tell me her full name, what designer shoes she was wearing and the scent of her perfume?"

He stared back at her, trying to think of the smart answer that would come out in just a second, but he couldn't think of it. And it was just three days ago, before Isabel. What the date that unmemorable?

"Exactly my point," his blonde friend pointed out. "Missy Trudeau was the first girl ever to make you fidget like you're doing now. You were head over heels in like with Missy, who now has miraculously turned into, what are you calling her these days, Elisabeth?"

"Rory? No, no, no, no, no," Logan couldn't believe Stephanie was lecturing him on this when she was having just as much trouble choosing between Colin and Joseph.

"Yes, yes, yes," she paused only for a moment, "okay, total Singin' in the Rain moment there."

"Steph, I don't like Rory," he said aloud, sinking in the words that he'd just said, "okay, I didn't mean it how it sounded. I like her, but I don't like her-like her." Logan quickly covered for himself.

"Yes you do, Logan."

"No, Steph, I don't."

Stephanie stared him back in the eyes and tackled him into a staring contest like they used to have often. There was something between them, she knew it and was going to everything possible to make them both realize it. Rory was going to be easy, but Logan – he was the one that needed the work. Rory was different than the others he had taken a liking to – she was actually smart, for one and two, could keep up with anyone in their small circle of friends – especially Colin. "Okay, Logan," Stephanie slid out of the seat she was in, holding onto her smoothie and wrapping the purses' handle onto her fingers. "So you don't like her. You keep trying to tell yourself that but that line of yours and that those little black books – poof!"

Logan sat there for a few more minutes after Stephanie had left, letting all her words sink into his brain again. As much as he would like to admit that she wasn't right, she was – at least on the fidgeting part. But Rory was not Missy, she couldn't be – because if she was, he was doomed. Missy was the epitome of perfect for Logan – deep, soulful green eyes and soft brunette curls and the intelligence that toppled over him and Seth (the brainiac of them all) and the wow power of his father. She was prefect – a little too perfect for him after junior high, but all the same – perfect. Walking back to his dorm the long way, Logan couldn't get Stephanie's word out of his head. And he was sure how he felt about his emphasis on the words 'your Elisabeth', but did have a tendency to call her that most time as she usually countered back, calling him 'Wally'. There were a few moments this weekend that made him stop sna dthnk about pursuing Rory, but the thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind and her concentrated back on Elisabeth and Wally; the real Elisabeth and Wally.

Seeing that he was coming closer to his dorm, Logan slowed his steps and actually stopped to see a dozen more fluorescent yellow, green, pink, orange and even blue flyers declaring he was officially off the dating market. He head to admit that Stephanie was definitely adamant and seriously knew how to get her point across. And if Logan knew her like he thought he knew her, she would make it either ten times worse or ten times better. Logan was predicting the former in this situation, because this was Rory…his 'Ace'…his 'Elisabeth'.